FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 28, 2008
CONTACT: Josh Dorner, 202.675.2384
David Willett, 202.675.6698
Sierra Club Radio Ads Urge Action on Gas Prices
Ads in Key States Contrast Big Oil's Billion Dollar Profits
with Consumer Pain & Economic Woes
Washington, D.C.--The Sierra Club today launched a major radio ad campaign urging Congress to take action to address our growing energy and economic crises. The new 60-second ad, "Rolling In It," urges Members of Congress to keep standing strong against Big Oil and calls on Congress to break Big Oil's stranglehold on America by cracking down on price-gouging, ending the billions in giveaways to the oil industry, investing in renewable energy to give consumers more clean energy options, and by offering consumers real relief at the pump.
"All this week we will be hearing the second quarter profit reports from the Big Oil companies, how they are rolling in it while hard working Americans suffer, our economy crumbles, and a 100-mile oil slick stretches across the mouth of the Mississippi," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director. "President Bush, Big Oil's backers in Congress, and shadowy outside groups are doing everything they can to push an agenda that will help pad Big Oil's bottom line while denying consumers any real relief from pain at the pump. We are urging the public to tell Congress to stand strong and move the kind of legislation we need to end Big Oil's chokehold on America's economy, energy policy and politics once and for all."
The ads come as gas prices hover near all-time record highs and the oil companies report yet another quarter of record profits. Last week ConocoPhillips announced a record-breaking $5.4 billion in profits—equal to more than one-third of the amount it earned during all of last year, which was itself a record. What's more, the skyrocketing price of oil allowed ConocoPhillips to take in some $71 billion in revenue last quarter—approximately $24 billion more than the same period last year, even as it sold 200,000 fewer barrels of oil each day. BP will announce its profits tomorrow, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell will both follow suit on Thursday, with Chevron making its announcement on Friday. Profits at each company are expected to surge past all previous records.
The ads target the following Members of Congress and will be running in the markets indicated below today through Friday, August 1:
Rep. Heath Shuler (NC-11)—Asheville
Rep. Jerry McNerney (CA-11)—San Francisco and Stockton
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8)—Tucson
Rep. Chris Carney (PA-10)—Wilkes-Barre
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (NH-1)—Manchester
Sen. Herb Kohl (WI)—Green Bay
Sample script:
Sierra Club
"Rolling In It"
July 23, 2008
All this week, you'll be hearing about the billions of dollars in record high profits the Big Oil companies are making.
They're raking it in while we're feeling the pain of four dollar a gallon gas.
Let's face it -- big oil has our economy, our energy policies and our politics in a strangle-hold.
But Congress still has a chance to break that hold, to pass legislation that provides price relief and helps hard working families instead of the oil industry.
Call Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords at 881-3588. That's 881-3588. Thank her for standing up to the oil companies. Ask her to keep voting to end the billions in government giveaways to Big Oil, to crack down on the price gouging that's keeping gas prices so high, and to invest in renewable energy and give consumers more, cleaner energy choices.
Paid for by the Sierra Club
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Audio files of the ads are available at http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/media/
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